Mojang Studios’, the creators of Minecraft, released a statement saying that they will not allow NFTs to be a part of their game. With almost every game embracing NFTs, Minecraft was also expected to do the same thus the news came as a shock for many NFT enthusiast.
An integration from Minecraft would have further increased NFT popularity and market value, thus benefitting people working in the newly hyped NFT industry. Denial from a game as big as Minecraft surely was an unexpected blow that has hit the NFT industry hard, and many enthusiast were found voicing their anger on different social media platforms.
Alongside their decision to not be a part of the NFT craze, Mojang released a statement explaining all the different reasons why they do not want NFTs to be a part of their game. In the statement Mojang said that “NFTs create models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with our guidelines and the spirit of Minecraft. NFTs are not inclusive of all our community and create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots.”
With this Mojang made it clear that it doesn’t want its game to support the idea of exclusivity, which quite clearly is the sole idea behind owning NFTs. Apart from not creating any sort of divisions between its players, Mojang also quoted two other reasons for not including NFT’s in Minecraft.
The company said that “the speculative pricing and investment mentality around NFTs takes the focus away from playing the game and encourages profiteering. We are also concerned that some third-party NFTs may not be reliable and may end up costing players who buy them.”
Mojang believes that if NFTs become a part of Minecraft, they would go onto change the reasons people play the game, and completely shift player focus, while also encouraging many profiteers to use the game for monetary benefits. Mojang also believes that Once NFTs start getting traded and showcased on the game, scams would eventually follow and smaller kids/ people with no prior knowledge of NFTs might end up loosing their money.
Over the last two years, the NFT industry in fact the whole blockchain industry has largely grown, now NFTs are being traded by millions online and the industry surely has a promising future. Minecraft ban of NFTs is indeed a strong hit to the industry, but Mojang has all the right reasons to not integrate NFTs into their game.
